The Supreme Court on Thursday took a firm stand that the final Assam National Register of Citizens (NRC) list should be published by July 31, 2019.
“Under no circumstances should the publication of the final NRC be stretched beyond July 31,” Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi observed in the court’s order.
Assam State NRC Coordinator Prateek Hajela informed the Special Bench, which comprises also Justice Rohinton Nariman, that 36.2 lakh people had filed their claims by December 31, 2018. Objections were received from over two lakh people. There is however no word from the remaining number of those who were excluded from the final draft NRC published on July 30, 2018.
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The public hearings for verification of the 36.2 lakh claimants would begin from February 15. The claimants would be issued notice 15 days ahead of their scheduled hearing, giving them ample time to prepare for it. These hearings are expected to span over a 100 days, possibly till June 30. That is well past the Lok Sabha elections.
Top government source in the Supreme Court, who is part of the legal proceedings, said those who have filed claims and objections are eligible to cast their vote for the parliamentary elections due in May, provided their names are on the voters’ list. A call would be taken only after the final NRC list is published, the source clarified.
Meanwhile, the court made it clear that the NRC verification process should not stop for the elections.
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Mr. Hajela had expressed doubts in court about getting enough manpower for the NRC work at the time of the elections. He said officers involved in the NRC work may be deputed for poll work. Around 5,000 government officers and staff are currently involved in the NRC process. Mr. Hajela submitted that the election work may delay the publication of the final NRC to September-end.
But the court put its foot down. “We are not in a position to think of an NRC beyond July 31… We are not prepared at this stage to go beyond July 31,” Chief Justice Gogoi observed.
Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta, for the Assam government, initially explained to the Bench that State cannot do much but bow to the Election Commission’s demands for manpower during poll time. “The State has no say. That is our predicament,” Mr. Mehta submitted.
“Predicaments may be many, but we have to overcome them. Both processes — NRC and parliamentary elections — have equal importance and should simultaneously go ahead without affecting one another,” Chief Justice Gogoi observed.
The court agreed to Mr. Mehta’s suggestion to organise a meeting among the Assam Chief Secretary, Mr. Hajela and the Election Commission of India to work out an arrangement on the optimum use of State employees and their deputation for NRC and poll work. The court ordered a report on the issue in seven days and posted the case for hearing on February 5.
The court further asked Mr. Hajela to consider and act according to a suggestion made by Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal that the officers who had heard the original claims and excluded people in the earlier draft NRC should not hear the same cases this time too.
“We will do a randomisation of the officers… we will inter-change the local registrars,” Mr. Hajela responded in court.